Between the Devil and the Dusk by Patrick Ireland

Author:Patrick Ireland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Published: 2024-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

It is almost fourteen hours from Tokyo to Sapporo, and we expected to arrive around 9:00p.m. Any thrill I had once felt for long-range train travel had evaporated. Now the weight of my present predicament made the journey decidedly uncomfortable. As soon as we sat down, I told them about my previous night’s disturbed sleep. I took the inside seat and rested my head against the window, acting like an uncomfortable glazed pillow, leaving them to make small talk that I instantly switched off. I closed my eyes, and the train’s gently swaying motion soon rocked me to into a deep sleep.

A soft tap on my shoulder woke me. Chihiro sat next to me, and Johnny was asleep in an opposite seat. Even in my post-slumber state, I detected urgency in her expression. I had barely rubbed the sleep from my eyes before she hurriedly started whispering.

‘Your friend Johnny, I think he may be in some sort of trouble.’

‘What makes you say that?’

Her statement surprised me. To my knowledge, Johnny had not acted suspiciously after he joined us. I hoped my fake shock had fooled her.

‘See his little finger on his left hand? The top half is missing, and he has a plastic tip – poor quality, I might add – to cover the mutilation. That’s a trademark of failing the yakuza.’

The game was now well and truly up. I couldn’t lie to her anymore in good conscience. I had wrestled with the dilemma since yesterday and could see many advantages for Johnny keeping his secret but no advantage for Chihiro and me. If she knew the whole story, there was a chance she might help me if the endeavour failed. So I quickly told her the abridged version. Her face turned more scornful with each passing sentence. Thankfully, before I could finish, Johnny flopped over, awake, saving me from a suspected savage verbal response.

We arrived in Sapporo dead on 9:00p.m. The summer was decidedly less heavy so far north. Actually, Siberia is only a short hop across the sea at the top tip of Hokkaidō, leaving most of the island entrenched in a mild winter even at the height of summer. Luckily for us, Sapporo is at the southernmost point of the island, so it gets a touch of summer. The train’s route ended at Sapporo, so there was no need to rush off. With my back moulded to the contours of the seat after barely moving during the fourteen-hour trip, it was good to have the time to slowly rise and stretch.

Sapporo is a city of less than 2 million people – a hamlet compared to Tokyo’s 38 million. Winter sports and breweries are the city’s specialities, but it also boasts of large IT and retail stores. Shin-Sapporo Station was nowhere near as grand or crammed as Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station. I was relieved by its straightforward concrete simplicity, an exit sign clearly posted on the platform. Chihiro led the way; Johnny and I tried our best to keep up.

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